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06-09-2007, 12:01 PM
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#1 (permalink)
| | Astrea Snail
Join Date: May 2007 Location: Whittier, CA
Posts: 49
Karma: 63
 |  Green Mandarin questions.....
If I had a 6gal refugium specifically designed to breed copepods.... with my setup.... would there be enough food to support one, or possibly a mated pair of green mandarin??? (the poor guy at the LFS is getting really tired of washing my nose & finger prints off of his mandarin tank!) Ive read some places that they dont require a large tank (Scott W. Michael pocket expert guide says 20gal; liveaquaria.com says 30gal) althou some of y'alls threads say no less than a 100gal.  I'd be buying a bottle of copepods every week or so until the refugium was spitting out enough to support however many they eat a day. Thats where I'm stuck thou... I dont know how many they would consume and buying a bottle of 1000's of copepods, I just dont know how long they would last.... don't worry.... I'm not picking them up anytime soon.... I just want more information before I bring them home (in 2 months ) _________ 40 gal acrylic tank, 20 gal wet/dry sump, 3.7 gal HOB CPR fuge, CPR bak-pak skimmer, Eheim canister filter, 192w Coralife CF, 150w 10k MH, 200w heater 40lbs of live sand, 50 lbs of live rock 8 blue leg hermit crabs, 2 Turbo snails, Tiger brittle star, sand star, 3 feather dusters 1 T.Crocea, 1 Pajama Cardinalfish, 1 mandarin dragonet, 1 purple firefish, 1 hi-fin banded shrimp goby ast mushrooms, xenia, zoa's and glove polyps Malama na Honu | 
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06-09-2007, 04:18 PM
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#2 (permalink)
| | Giant Squid
Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Los Angeles, California Age: 21
Posts: 3,447
  
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Hmmm...Well, I am not sure the number eaten per day is...but you could always keep buying the copepods...maybe bimonthly. _________ Tank Specs:
55 Gallon Mixed Reef
48" Tek Light: 4-54W T5 HO Fluorescents
Bulbs:
1 x 54w Fiji Purple T5 HO Fluorescent
1 x 54w Super Actinic Blue T5 HO Flourescent
1 x 54w 14000K AquaBlue 75/25 T5 HO Fluorescent
1 x 54w 10000k AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent
Hard Stuff:
100+ lb. Fiji Live Rock
65+ lb. Live sand
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06-09-2007, 05:11 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Teardrop Maxima Clam
Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: IL Age: 20
Posts: 793
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Not alone with the fuge. However, if you're willing to do alot of work you could easily. Find a male and a female (probably separately) that will eat mysis (ask your LFSs). I'd supplement with tigger pods often, or for more work I'd culture them yourself.
I think on melev's reef he shows how to culture them. You just need a small tank predator free that you can dose lots of phyto to  These require lots of water changes and and air pump of some sort.
Also see http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.htmlcopepod Melevsreef.com - Mandarin Care _________ 14g Oceanic Cube
Randall's Goby/Shrimp Pair * 3x Sexy Shrimp  | |
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06-09-2007, 07:40 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Torch Coral
Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: St. Paul/Woodbury, Minnesota Age: 50
Posts: 1,181
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90g tank min. with 100#'s of live rock and a refugium to keep them alive if they are not eating supplement food. IMO, I think that overall their survival rate in captivity is very low and they should be left in the ocean. In a 40g tank they will decimate the pod population fairly quickly. In that pocket guide you are talking about, it says they can be kept in a 20g tank if they are eating vitamin enriched brine shrimp and black worms. I even doubt that claim. Those are not its natural foods and they provide little nourishment for them to survive very long. Now others may argue against me, but most people who have success with them have very large tanks.
Research them at wetwebmedia.com _________ 75g reef with Nova Extreme 8 bulb HO T-5 lighting, refuge, Remora skimmer, DSB, Seio powerheads, Acro's, LPS corals, assorted zoo's & mushrooms, Yellow Tang, Maroon Clown, Blue Cleaner Goby , Cleaner, Fire and Sexy Shrimp, Coco Worm, T.Crocea Clam, Derasa Clam
120g FOWLR, 260w Orbit power compact lights, Remora Pro skimmer, 30g DIY Sump/Refuge, DSB,Seio Power heads, Powder Blue Tang, Purple Tang, Flag Fin Angel, False Eye Puffer, Copperbanded Butterfly and a Moorish Idol  | |
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06-13-2007, 11:29 AM
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#5 (permalink)
| | Skunk Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 287
Karma: 71
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i also have questions about a mandarin... actually, a concern of the fish size/recommended tank size.. if you have a 90 gallon tank with at least a hundred pounds of liverock, the chances of you ever seeing a 3 inch mandarin that usually hides under rocks/in crevices are slim to none, so in my opinion a mandarin would be just plain stupid to have in the aquarium... i mean, my LFS has a mandarin in a small tank (probably 20gal), and you can sit and watch the tank for an hour, and only see the fish for a few seconds of that hour... so imagine the same fish in a much bigger aquarium.. unless you're a big "where's waldo" fan, you'd end up forgetting that you have the mandarin.. that's just my theory, i could be wrong... | |
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06-13-2007, 11:34 AM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Skunk Shrimp
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 287
Karma: 71
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don't get me wrong, i would absolutely love to have a mandarin, but not if i'd almost never get to see it.. | |
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06-13-2007, 11:55 AM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Ritteri Anemone
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Naperville IL Age: 29
Posts: 621
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Actually I love mine in the 180gal. More so than when it was in a 75. I put in a scooter blenny as well and will add a few more. I find that because the tank is large you spend maybe 15 sec but never more looking for them as they never hide. Once you find them they are a blast to follow around because they are so active. You will see them float from one structure to another like a flying squirrel and will even run into my 7in yellow tang. What is even more entertaining is every time I have company they are always looking for the "pretty tiny fish that is scared of nothing." Neither of mine eat brine shrimp.
I think you can get away with one in your 40 if it has been established for a good amount of time. Just make sure you start out with a small one and if it starts getting skinny see if you have the oppertunity to bring it back to the LFS. Just my thoughts.
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180 Gal Reef, AquaC EV-400, 3 MH Aquamedic Oceanlight HQI's 250w 20k. Neptune AquaController III, AquaLogic Trimline Cyclone 1/3hp skimmer, 2 x hydor #4's, 2 x hydor #3's, 2 x mj1200's modded, 40 gal fuge. | |
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